U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research: Cellular Biomechanics in Blood Vessels and Vascular Grafts

该奖项将支持美国和日本研究团队之间的合作努力，旨在进一步了解血液流动与正常血管壁和由替代材料制成的血管的相互作用。这些信息的应用包括流体动力学作为血管疾病的一个因素，但更重要的是开发用于恢复心血管功能的生物组织替代品，即组织工程。小口径移植物的工程开发是迫切需要的，要成功地做到这一点，需要了解这种移植物的流体动力学环境以及在细胞水平上流动与血管壁的相互作用。为此，美国和日本的研究人员将在两年的时间内进行补充和联合研究。具体的实验将针对确定流动环境和确定相关的细胞反应，包括血细胞的粘附和内皮细胞的改变，内皮细胞排列在动脉内壁上，直接与流动的血液接触。主要研究人员是佐治亚理工学院的Robert M. neem博士和日本筑波大学的Norio Ohshima博士。其他合作研究人员来自佐治亚理工学院生物力学实验室和三所日本机构：北海道大学、川崎医学院和筑波大学。

This award will support a collaborative effort between teams of U.S. and Japanese researchers aimed at furthering our understanding of the interaction of blood flow with both normal blood vessel walls and with vessels engineered from substitute materials. The application of this information includes fluid dynamics as a factor in vascular disease, but more importantly the development of biological tissue substitutes for the restoration of cardiovascular function, i.e. tissue engineering. The engineering development of small-bore grafts is urgently needed, and to successfully do this requires an understanding of the fluid dynamic environment of such grafts and the interaction of flow with the vessel wall at a cellular level. In this effort, the U.S. and Japanese investigators will conduct both complementary and joint studies over a two-year period. Specific experiments will be directed at defining the flow environment and determining associated cellular responses, including both the adhesion of blood cells and alterations in endothelial cells, the cells which line the inner arterial walls and interface directly with flowing blood. The principal investigators are Dr. Robert M. Nerem, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Dr. Norio Ohshima, University of Tsukuba, Japan. Other co-investigators are from the Biomechanics Laboratory at Georgia Institute of Technology and from three Japanese institutions: the University of Hokkaido, the Kawasaki Medical School, and the University of Tsukuba.